Essential Communications is an independent Public Relations agency specialising in the travel retail sector.

Friday, 14 November 2014

Scandlines and William Grants whisky shop in shop in Puttgarden wins gold at POPAI Awards in London

Executives from William Grant & Sons, Hans Just, Scandlines and HRG gathered in Cannes during TFWA World Exhibition to celebrate the gold POPAI award won for the Glenfiddich Whisky Corner travel retail concept at Scandlines Puttgarden store on the German island of Fehmarn. The corner was named Best Shop in Shop.

Built from an understanding of shopper motivations and purchase behaviour, the concept encourages shoppers to trade up and attracts new shoppers to the whisky area of the store. It allows customers an introduction to whisky and by highlighting travel exclusives, gifting options and taste profiles and displaying the products beautifully it means that the purchase decision is not based only on price.

“This new Glenfiddich Whisky Corner provides an eye-catching, dedicated setting for customers, introducing a variety of premium, ultra-premium and rare quality whiskies to new customers whilst also engaging with existing aficionados,” says Scandlines Managing Director Morten Haure-Peterson. “This new environment is part of our ongoing mission to upgrade the quality of our offer to customers, with a particular focus on our Swedish friends.”

The judging panel commended the execution as, “a really great example of a store concept that is grounded in shopper insight. Understanding shopper needs and applying sound category management principles has delivered a truly exciting and inviting environment which offers a unique shopping experience.” The judges went on to say that, “Appealing to discount shoppers and connoisseurs alike, this truly engaging brand experience makes good use of a range of merchandising techniques to create strong standout, support ease of category navigation in-store and aid improved product knowledge, giving shoppers the tools to buy with confidence.”

Justin Weston, Managing Director, Global Travel Retail for William Grant and Sons commented, “The award won by HRG is very well deserved; they put together a fantastic space – not just for our portfolio, including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Grant’s Whisky, and Tullamore Dew, but also for competitor brands too. It’s a great demonstration of how shopper understanding is being used to improve the customer shopping experience and support value creation to generate increased profit everyone – ourselves, our distributors and our retail partners by ensuring that we all work together to grow the entire whisky category.”

* POPAI (Point of Purchase Advertising International) is has over 1,400 corporate member companies around the world. It held its annual awards for excellence in retail marketing on 9 October in London.